DVD Review: Dolls

By Ron Wilkinson Mar 12, 2005, 21:57 GMT

Kitano doesn’t judge the lovers in this film by spelling out that what they do is right or wrong.  He doesn’t even suggest that there is a right or wrong.  The tempestuous happening in the film are simply there to see.  Like the Bunraku puppet theatre, controlled by forces outside of their lives, the lovers paint a picture for us.  A picture cannot be right or wrong, it is simply there, an object in our vision.  In Dolls the lovers are objects and humans at the same time.  In their object-ness they are the embodiment of the guilt and shame in their lover’s eyes.  But when people act like puppets and enter into a world of make-believe, there are consequences of both a physical and moral nature.

The main thread of the film is a legendary story about a man and woman who become bound for life and are reduced to beggars, roaming the land in atonement for some unknown crime.  Sawako (played by Miho Kanno) and her lover Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) are betrothed and very much in love.  They have pledged their lives to each other and have no other future than a future together.  Matsumoto works for a large corporation and is one of a legion of white collar clerks who aspire to work their way up the very hierarchical and rigid Japanese chain of command.  Unlike the American workplace, loyalty is everything in Japan.  There are no alternative shortcuts to the top.  Matsumoto is given the chance of a lifetime to get ahead fast in a system where no one gets ahead fast.  He is matched with the boss’ daughter and offered marriage.

Such a marriage would not only elevate Matsumoto quickly, but his family as well.  His mother and father, hypnotized with greed and ambition for their son and themselves, beg him to leave his betrothed and marry into the corporation.  He succumbs to the pressure and leaves Sawako.  On the day of his marriage ceremony he receives a message that Sawako has gone insane over her loss.  Stricken with grief, Matsumoto leaves his boss’ daughter at the alter, ruins himself and his parents, and goes to Sawako.  To atone for his betrayal, he vows to be with her, in her psychotic state, forever.  He binds himself to her with a rope never to be broken.  Tied together, they roam on an endless walk without beginning, end or purpose.  Bound beggars.

Possibly the most symbolic of Takeshi Kitano’s ever more aesthetic works

After a disfiguring automobile accident Haruna’s career suddenly is in jeopardy.  Cold and impersonal headlines declare that she may never appear on-screen again.  Strings are being pulled that will spell her end.  Nukui is driven to seek her out and gains an audience.  In homage to her and as a gesture of his heartbreak at her misfortune, he matches her disfiguration with a worse one of his own.  He sacrifices his ability to ever see her again in her less-than-perfect state.

The third story is of a young man and woman who meet on a park bench and fall in love.  They cannot marry because he has no money and no future.  He leaves her and vows to return when he has achieved status in society that honors her enough to allow their marriage.  She waits for years, returning to the bench to meet him; never losing faith.  The young man makes his fortune as a gangster and rises to the top as a ruthless man devoid of feeling.  He sees his peers come and go, as mobsters do, and finally returns to her on the eve of his own death, realizing that he has given up his life for a goal he had in his grasp the whole time.<!--page-->

Possibly the most symbolic of Takeshi Kitano’s ever more aesthetic works, Dolls explores romantic love against a backdrop of sacrifice and hopeless physical desire.  Kitano’s film contains no judgment; it leaves judgment to the audience.  They are allowed to come to their own conclusions about whether God-given love can be the justification for the desecration of God-given life. 

Told against a gorgeous cinematic background of luscious colors and strong set design, this may be the best example yet of Kitano’s continuously evolving work.  Never a shred of over-acting, Kitano weaves a holistic story of set, acting, music and photography.

Extras on the DVD include interviews with director/writer Kitano, lead actress Miho Kanno, male lead Hidetoshi Nishijima and costume designer Yohji Yamamoto, and, of course, previews of upcoming Palm features, web links and the trailer.

The DVD is out now in the US from Palm Pictures and available to order at Amazon. UK readers can also order via Amazon UK, with the 2003 edition from Artificial Eye.

Further details can be found in our database.